My head is racing with what to jot down. So much is coming to mind and to play it out so it doesn’t sound like a cluster bomb of random thoughts could prove disaster. So, where to start? Right now as I sit here in front of this laptop, it’s 3 in the morning and I just have to upload photos and that’s it. I’m listening to Hey Rosetta’s ‘Yes, Yes, Yes’ and the lyrics ‘You’ll be an old man soon’ is resounding in my mind and stirring in my heart. Rifflandia is an experience — an experience that put’s us all in a situation to live in the moment and make those tough choices and to live! “Who should we go see?” “This band is playing here and this band is playing the same time over there” “I saw this band, who did you see?” — conversations like this are endless and exciting. To hear what someone else experienced on the other side of town while you were watching something else. You hear it through their words and you think to yourself ‘If only!’, but in return you share what you saw with them and it goes around and around. My writing partner Jay has caught some great bands and when he explained seeing Tundre play at Sugar I had that overwhelming feeling of ‘Dammit! I missed a good show’ — but that, in my words, is beautiful. To know that this festival was an experience for someone and I got to hear it from them. I come back to the lyrics about being an old man — I’ll be 30 in just days and reflecting on it, it’s gone by fast. Treasure these moments and these experiences. Treasure the minutes waiting in the rain as you and dozens of other people are lined up outside of a venue waiting for capacity to reduce itself so you can go inside. Love every second of running from one end of town to see a show only to miss it by seconds. Embrace this feeling that you have right now — these are the moments you’ll be talking about and sharing for the rest of your lives.